Lufthansa Flight 181

Lufthansa Flight 181 was a Boeing 737 that was hijacked on 13 October 1977 by four PFLP guerrillas as it flew over the Mediterranean Sea; the plane, its 86 passengers, and 5 crew members were flown to Mogadishu, Somalia, where West Germany's GSG-9 stormed the plane and freed the hostages. The captain and three hijackers were killed, while 4 passengers and one hijacker were wounded.

The plane was taking part in a round-trip flight from Frankfurt, West Germany to Palma de Mallorca, Spain. At 11:00 AM on 13 October 1977, Zohair Youssif Akache, Suhaila Andrawes, Wabil Harb, and Hind Alameh hijacked the plane, and the plane refuelled in Rome, Italy. The terrorists demanded the release of ten Red Army Faction leaders, and the plane flew on to Larnaca, Cyprus before refuelling at Bahrain, heading to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, to Aden in South Yemen, and to Mogadishu, Somalia. The terrorists killed Captain Schumann after he behaved suspiciously while inspecting the plane, and the West German government declared that it would release the RAF leaders in Mogadishu. However, on 18 October, 30 GSG-9 operatives and 2 SAS operatives arrived by plane and prepared to assault the plane; at the same time, Somali troops lit a fire at the end of the runway to distract the hijackers. The hijackers rushed to the cockpit to observe what was going on, and the GSG-9 operatives climbed up ladders and onto the wings to storm the plane. Harb and Alameh were killed, Akache was mortally wounded, and Andrawes was taken alive. All 86 passengers were safely evacuated, and the rescue operation was a success; however, the RAF responded by executing their hostage, the businessman Hanns Martin Schleyer, that same day.